4/3 lens on EM10?

Hello, I have an up coming week long hiking trip it is a little depress when looking at my e3. Love the e3 but haul it up and down the hill with the 12-60 and 50-200 for a week might be too much. Saw a post about a gentleman clipped one on the backpack down the page and it got me thinking. I have a m4/3 14-42 and 40-150 from the early pen day and it get me thinking about get a used em10 mkII for the trip. I have a few questions.

How durable/reliable is EM10 ii? Had a EPL3 and it was a toy

I imagine it is probably more similar to the E-PL3 than to the E-3.

Is it reasonable with 4/3? I likely to bring 9-18 and 50 along(30 f1.4 maybe)

You can get an adapter. The Olympus adapter MMF-3 adapter is fairly expensive, the Panasonic DMW-MA1 adapter seems to be mostly missing in action, and there are clone adapters that are cheaper, but it may not be a good idea to go with a clone adapter for a 9-18mm lens.

Some users complain that the adapters can get slightly out of spec and on wide angle lenses, you tend to get soft results towards the outside of the picture (sometimes just one side or corner). Here is the thread I first read about this at another forum:

Typically the clone adapters show more of the softness than the Olympus MMF-3. However, there was a post I recall (but did not save) where one unfortunate soul got a MMF-3 for his 7-14mm lens, and it went soft over time. He got a second MMF-3, and it too went soft.

I had bought a 4/3rds 9-18mm lens fairly cheaply, but after these threads, I decided I needed to think about getting the micro 4/3rds 9-18mm rather than use my 9-18mm too much on my E-m1. I do wish I had read the threads before getting the 9-18mm, but I have used it from time to time when I take my E-1 out.

In terms of using classic 4/3rds lenses on micro 4/3rds bodies (outside of the E-m1's), there are two classes of lenses.

Lenses that support contrast detect auto-focus (CD-AF) used in micro 4/3rds cameras and late model 4/3rds cameras in live view mode. Many of the late model standard grade lenses including the 9-18mm support CD-AF. The 14-54mm mark II is the only high grade lens to support CD-AF. Except on the E-m1's, CD-AF lenses are very slow to focus, and you can only use S-AF (single shot) focusing. This means you need to manually focus the lens when shooting video.

Lenses that do not support CD-AF are even worse. If you are focusing on a static image, most of the lenses will eventually achieve a focus lock. Some lenses, such as the 150mm, Olympus recommends using AF+MF focusing, and switching to manual focusing when the lens can't get a focus lock.

The E-m1 mark I improved things somewhat. It has phase detect auto focus sensors (PD-AF) that are similar to the sensors used in the DSLRs and can speed up focusing of classic 4/3rds lenses. However, comparing it to my E-3/E-5, the E-m1 mark I did not include cross shaped PD-AF sensors. This means it still struggles in low contrast situations to find a focus lock. I have used my E-m1 mark I on whale watching trips with my 50-200mm mark I, and due to the low contrast of the ocean, the thing just hunted (unlike my E-5 which typically achieved a focus lock quickly). Shooting in more normal scenes, it is much faster with the E-m1 mark I than with my other cameras.

I had originally bought the E-m1 mark I because it was much cheaper than getting the micro 4/3rds 40-150mm lens, and I could use it with the 50-200mm + TC-14 with a MMF-3 adapter. I've used it, and it works, but I find myself bringing the E-5 to use with the 50-200mm instead of using the E-m1 mark I more often.

The E-m1 mark II finally adds cross shaped sensors and is reputed to be much faster than even the E-5.

Finally there is the issue of weight. The 50-200mm is a fairly heavy lens. You might find it more comfortable to use the E-m10 grip. I generally don't like the E-m1 mark I battery grip (HLD-7), but it does help with the balance of the 50-200mm lens.

What speed of SD I need?

If you are not shooting video or continuous sequential shooting, it doesn't matter. If you are shooting video, I believe Olympus recommends a class 10 card to the E-m10 mark II. You probably need a faster card if you are going to shoot 4K video with the E-m10 mark III.

Which mmf should I get? consider I have 50-200 and both TC.

Since the E-m10 is not weather sealed, it doesn't matter. If you have the E-m1 mark I/II or E-m5 mark I/II, then you want the MMF-3 adapter which is weather sealed.

Is EM10ii a good pick? it is slightly more than em5/10, 40% less than used em5ii/em1

I've never used the E-m10 mark II, except in the store. The one feature it has over the E-m5 mark I/II and E-m1 mark I/II is it uses an OLED viewfinder, which means you can see the viewfinder when wearing polarized sunglasses. The E-m5 and E-m1 models use a TFT viewfinder which has polarization effects when you shoot in the normal landscape orientation with polarized sunglasses on.

The E-m10 mark III is a much more stripped down model. For me, it it not useful at all, since they eliminated the wired shutter release. Evidently they over-simplified and removed other things as well.

Oh I am heading to San Diego area, does it normally rain in Dec? Any tip and pointer in SD welcome(food, beer, must see..etc).

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